'There is more than enough for Michael Gove to do to sort out the system-wide problems in prison. Which is why today's announcement of six 'reform prisons' is such a tragic distraction from the big challenges of prison reform.

The Ministry of Justice’s plan to reduce the prison population through a reduction in reoffending 'has almost no chance of success', the former New York City corrections and probation director Michael Jacobson writes in today's Guardian.

He also cautions against plans to build new prisons, arguing that 'you simply cannot build your way out' of the problem of prison overcrowding.